Investigators posed as customers on the Snapchat and Telegram apps to arrest the suspects.
They are suspected of having sold all kinds of drugs via the Snapchat and Telegram applications: several people were arrested on April 11 after an operation “of infiltration” investigators online, learned Tuesday April 18 franceinfo from a police source, confirming information from the Parisian.
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“Rapide Service 78”, “Pharmacist 78”: behind these catch-all names, 2,600 subscribers could order cannabis, cocaine or even synthetic drugs, and have them delivered to Ile-de-France. -France.
“The average customer is more and more reluctant to go to the housing estates for supplies”, insists the head of the Versailles branch of the Anti-Narcotics Office (Ofast). “He prefers to pay 5 or 10 euros more and not take the risk of moving. For 4 or 5 years now, the trend has been towards uberization”.
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In September 2022, the police, via the operational center for operational intelligence on narcotics (CROSS) learned of the existence of these platforms, managed in the Yvelines. “We carried out fairly traditional investigative work for this traffic, with surveillance, beacons, wiretaps and vehicle sound systems”details the police commander. “But we also went further.”
Pseudonymous survey
The Versailles investigators of Ofast indeed took advantage of a possibility offered by the law to make a “survey under pseudonym”. They integrated the list of customers from these two platforms, and on April 11, they placed an order: when the delivery man arrived, they arrested him, and at the same time other police officers were arresting other suspects – including two men aged 24 and 25 presented as the heads of the network.
During the search, the police notably seized 10 kilos of cannabis resin, and in smaller quantities, ecstasy, MDMA (another synthetic drug), cocaine, as well as 30,000 euros in cash, 17,000 euros worth of designer clothes and several cars.
Investigators estimate that the activities of this small group had lasted for two years and estimate that this traffic brought in around 1,500 euros per day – 45,000 euros per month. Five suspects aged 21 to 25 will be tried on May 5.